AP PhotoTim Bradley celebrates his split-decision victory over Manny Pacquiao, in a controversial finish, at MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Manny Pacquiao's claim to the
pound-for-pound throne vanished early this morning when Timothy
Bradley took it from him, by hook or crook, emphasis on the latter.
Highway robbers blanched at what transpired at MGM Grand, where
Bradley was awarded a decision he unequivocally didn't deserve.

The question now is who tells
Floyd Mayweather?

Bradley was awarded a split
decision in a fantasy heist that made Ocean's Eleven appear feasible
by comparison.

And Mayweather-Pacquiao, the dream
fight for the last few years, but a proposal taking on water since
its inception, came that much closer to completely sunk.

Pacquiao, in accepting the defeat
with extraordinary grace, assured his place as a sportsman, while
boxing assured that its place in the sports gutter remains secure,
where the lowest common denominator remains attractive to those
willing to crawl around in its muck. For those of us who have
crawled around in it long enough, and have seen an over-the-hill and
a too-green judge botch big fights before, we just chalk up nights
like this to the endemic problems, take a shower, and try to forget
it all.

I have covered boxing for three
decades. I have seen HBO botch calls on fights before. I discount
its official unofficial scoring, or its unofficial official scoring,
or whatever it's calling its opinions of fights these days, as
completely as I discount all others. I keep my own scorecard, with
my own pen and paper. I have seen HBO influence the masses unfairly
before. And this isn't one of those times.

The people watching on television
weren't the only ones baffled by it all.

If you have any boxing writers in
your Twitter feed, and they happened to be in Las Vegas tonight,
you'll see what I mean.

Disbelief trumped disdain in the
fight's other split decision, though it was a narrow differential.

This isn't Bradley's fault. He
fought admirably.

When it ended, I had him winning a
grand total of three rounds, to Pacquiao's nine.

The possibility that Pacquiao
might not win never entered my mind until Michael Buffer read the
initial score of 115-113, for Pacquiao, which by virtue of the
ring-announcing format meant, by definition, that the fight either
was a split decision or draw.

The late trainer Joey Fariello had
a saying for fights like Bradley-Pacquiao. He called them “b.b.'s
vs. bombs.” There were no knockdowns in the fight, but Pacquiao
was heavier handed from the opening bell, and on my scorecard had
several rounds in the bag before Bradley started a very late rally
with his pepper-fisted attack.

Mayweather-Pacquiao remained the
dream fight, right up until the scores were announced, and boxing was
completely tossed on its ear, the one Mike Tyson didn't bite off.
It's that kind of sport.

Pacquiao, for all the camp and
family discord he has endured the last few months, did his thing. He
buzzed Bradley a couple times, landed dozens more punches, landed
harder punches, and found his undefeated opponent almost impossible
to miss with the left hand.

All of that was lost on Duane
Ford, a veteran Nevada judge who missed it, and C.J. Ross, also a
Nevada veteran but lacking in the big-fight experience necessary for
an assignment of this magnitude. Absolved of blame was Jerry Roth,
another big-name judge whose 115-113 scorecard for Pacquiao – the
same score his fellow judges had for Bradley – still was too close.

Mayweather, who was jailed June 1
in a domestic case, and figures to be released in late July,
tentatively planned to have his handlers start arranging his next
fight while in jail.

Bradley's spurious victory gave
Mayweather undisputed pound-for-pound claim, but also froze out the
top fighter in the sport from the biggest fights. Bradley signed
with promoter Top Rank, which also promotes Pacquiao, specifically to
get that fight. It worked, to no one's surprise. Then, he won.

Mayweather probably won't fight
either man now, because they both work for his promotional rival.

Bradley-Pacquiao II becomes the
hot ticket, and a virtual mandate, because of the lousy way the first
one turned out.

If Pacquiao should win, and the
fight is competitive at all, a trilogy could be in the offing.

Mayweather is left to pick up
whatever scraps he chooses, although given the tens of millions he
makes every fight, that doesn't matter much.

What does matter to Mayweather is
this: For the last decade, he always had a dream opponent, a fight
the world commanded, first Oscar De La Hoya, whom he defeated in
2007, and then Pacquiao. Mayweather remained relative because he is
the best in the world at his craft, but the potential for a Pacquiao
fight was what kept many of those pay-per-view buyers coming back for
more. All great fighters benefit from having the perfect foil. For
the first time in years, Mayweather, by virtue of the rawest
big-fight decision in years, no longer has that dangling carrot.